Self-edited ramblings about whatever I feel like talking about. Usually related to some sort of game-like activity.

March 11, 2014

Calgary Dreadball League - Robot Thoughts...

Back in January of this year we started playing a new league setup, organized by Zac. I'd run a short league the previous year and had tried unsuccessfully to garner interest in a new one late in the summer. Since starting up things seem to be going quite well, and there are eight regular players signed up, with a few more looking to join in from what I hear.

This time around I decided to try playing one of my season 2 teams, The Etherian Horde. I've only been able to paint four of my twelve teams, and didn't really fancy playing my S2 female team (The Synergy City Holograms). I was looking for something a little different and I thought the females wouldn't be enough of a departure from the S1 humans.

I had played a few one-off games with the robots and knew that my core game strategy would have to change. The starting roster is six players only, so I'm immediately left at a disadvantage: I have no substitute players to bring onto the pitch during the match! This means that my positioning is of utmost importance because I simply can't afford to have my players languishing in the sin-bin, or worse...killed during the game.

The second factor I had to consider is both a pro and a con: transforming players into different roles. While helpful, it eats actions. Doubling on a transform roll doesn't allow me to do anything other than transform MORE. In six total games I have yet to need to change from striker to guard, or vice versa. I find that I spend at least two actions in my early rushes changing a player to a guard and one to a striker. Having to do so means a slow start to my offensive playmaking options.

With all that said, things in the league have actually gone very well! My first two matches (vs Z'zor and Orx respectively) went to overtime. On both occasions I was able to score the winning strike. My third match was against a S1 human team and I hit strategic gold with a solid passing game, resulting in the Horde's first-ever landslide victory. My fourth round match was a much harder-fought affair, which you can read about over on Zac's blog (click here).

My team's value has gone up due to my cash winnings and adding experience to my players. I have however, lost a player. In round one, Johnny-5 was put offline and I had to revive him on the cheap due to lack of funds. The result of which was a reduction in skill. In round four poor Johnny-5 suffered the same fate. This time however I was forced to recycle him entirely. The recycling fee provided me enough money to replace him, but I'm still unable to expand my roster. Making enough cash to do so has proven difficult. Were I to do things over again I may have opted to save my money early until I could afford a player before investing in a second card and coaching die.

A 4-0 record for a new team is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Or, maybe glitch about...since we are talking robots here.